May 8, 2012 (STATE COLLEGE, Pa.) - Kyle Smith headed to Wampum, Pennsylvania to compete in the World Karting Association's CRG America Nationals, competing in his second World Karting Association's Manufacturers Cup event this season.

Friday practice showed Kyle jump up and down the unofficial time charts, as some sessions the kart had balance, while others the team struggled to find the setup. However through the knowledge and experience of Checkered Motorsports, Smith never fell more than half a second off the pace, and the team gained speed heading into Saturday, which had both Leopard and TaG 1 qualifying and races.

Kyle Smith would qualify his PCR P3 in both Leopard and TaG, knowing he could potentially move forward with good racing and a solid pace, Smith would do just that putting himself on the front row for both finals, winning the Leopard Pre-Final, and finishing runner-up in the TaG Pre-Final.

In TaG, Smith initially lost contact with the leaders after being blatantly shoved off in turn one. He would ultimately use solid race pace and race craft to finish in 3rd just behind teammate Robert Bujdoso. In Leopard, Kyle brought home a bent up kart home in 2nd. A bit disappointing for Smith, as he had dominated the Pre-Final, however with the circumstances that had come upon him, Smith drove with pace and consistency to finish runner-up.

On Sunday, the changing track conditions would see Kyle fall slightly back to P6 in qualifying. Keeping consistent pace only one tenth off of the leaders, Kyle would finish the Pre-Final in 6th as well. In the final, Smith would make a great start, moving to 2nd and challenging for the lead, however with a slightly undesirable setup and a few battles, he would be relegated to 4th.

“I felt it was a consistent and solid performance by the #31 crew” said Smith. “Checkered Motorsports and Comet Racing Engines gave me all the tools to compete, and we sure did, never falling outside of the top six positions, moving forward in every race. It was unfortunate how the weight ruling played out on some of the various TaG engines, giving a clear advantage to others, however we persevered through the challenges to finish on the podium in every race against such a stellar national field.” recalled Smith.

Kyle would like to thank the following people. Everyone at Checkered Motorsports/PCR Distribution and specifically Csaba Budjoso and Doru Stoia, everyone at Comet Kart Sales and Racing Engines, Sean Cook, Jeff Smith, and his family for their support.